Pantech Discover Review, No Competition For Big Brands

The Pantech Discover is a really nicely spec’d, mid-ranged phone that offers a lot of bang for the phone-buying buck. This review is going to cover a range of aspects on the phone, which include: call quality, hardware, build quality, display, performance, software, and battery life. Once you are finished reading the review you should have a grasp of whether or not this phone is a good choice for you.

Call Quality

So it doesn’t really matter what powers this phone, if it doesn’t make clear phone calls then it really won’t be that much use to you. The call quality on the Pantech Discover is actually quite impressive. After testing, there was no experience of white noise or dropped calls. It might also be worth it to add that the speakerphone is one of the clearest out there.

Hardware

The Pantech Discovery is packing some pretty premium specs. First off it has a 4.8 inch LCD screen with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels, giving it 306 ppi (pixels per inch). It’s running android 4.0.4, powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core chip, and comes with 16 GB of internal storage which is expandable by micro SD. In terms of photography, you’re going to get some pretty good quality photos with it using the 12.6 megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash and some decent front-facing quality with a 2 MP camera. It also has WiFi, Bluetooth, and NFC capabilities. It packs some power with the 2100 MAh battery, so you won’t have to worry much about the battery life. The phone itself weights 4.76 ounces, giving it an overall pretty nice feel.

Build Quality

Pantech has really got the build quality down pact here as they have a fantastic feel to their phone. It almost feels like a Nexus phone, especially the back panel texture. The curved, hourglass design of the phone allows you to be able to pull the phone out of your pocket quite easily. All the buttons on the phone are very tactile and feel extremely durable. The screen has some pretty incredible build quality as well, even with the curved design along the bezel.

Display

The display itself has a slight problem, especially in regards to viewing angles. Even at a slight off-angle you are going to have a hard time viewing the screen, which could be a big deal-breaker for most interested enthusiasts. Viewing photos and videos are below optimal quality on this display. So seeing as the Discovery doesn’t have a very good display, you might want to reconsider the buy.

Performance

The performance of the Pantech Discovery is a real hit and miss. Sometimes users can experience lag when opening applications or swiping across menus, but other times there is not delay or lag at all and everything is buttery smooth. The inconsistency of the phone’s performance experience might be something to consider when purchasing.

Software

Pantech has modified the Android experience of 4.0.4. The launcher on the main screen is quite exciting as it allows you to place all your favourite shortcuts and apps on your main screen and organize them to your liking. They have also made selecting and adding widgets to your main screens a very enjoyable experience. It would be nice if the phone shipped with the most updated version of Android, Jelly Bean; hopefully that upgrade will come in the near future.

Battery Life

The battery life on the Pantech Discovery has been astounding thus far. It made it through a full day of heavy use including phone calls, gaming, browsing, and streaming videos. At the end of the day it had about 40% of battery life remaining, which is quite a surprise.

Final Verdict

It’s not a bad phone but it definitely has some things that could be improved. Overall though, Pantech should have paid closer attention to detail because they are now competing with other premium phones that are not offered for free with a 3-year contract. Hopefully they can continue to work out of the box and design some higher-end models in the future that do a better job at competing with the other phones on the market.